Administration Tries to Blunt Hearing on Raid on Texas Sect

Trying to blunt a potentially embarrassing inquiry, members of the Clinton Administration and some of its supporters in Congress are warning that scheduled Congressional hearings on the Government raid on the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Tex., might undermine Federal firearms laws and shore up support for paramilitary groups.

Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin said in a letter today that he was "worried that investigating events at Waco, without investigating the extreme activities of some militias, seems to suggest that law-enforcement agencies are the real threat to the safety of American citizens." Mr. Rubin oversees the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, which conducted the initial assault on the compound in 1993.

The Treasury Secretary said the hearings "cannot be understood properly outside the context of Oklahoma City," where 167 people died in the bombing of the Federal Building on April 19. "The Oklahoma City investigation focused public attention on the paramilitary movement and the potential threat presented by some of its adherents," he said.

Mr. Rubin's letter said the hearings, scheduled to begin on July 19, might damage "public confidence in the men and women who enforce" firearms laws.

It also touched on an issue that Administration officials suspect is a part of the Republicans' motive in scheduling the hearings more than two years after the fiery conclusion of the standoff at the Branch Davidian compound. "Some," Mr. Rubin warned, "may try to use these hearings to serve another agenda: to erode public support for Federal firearms laws."

The Branch Davidian assault became a rallying cry for anti-Government and pro-gun groups, and enraged Timothy J. McVeigh, the principal suspect in the Oklahoma City bombing.

Four agents of the firearms bureau were killed in a botched raid on the compound on Feb. 28, 1993, after they tried to serve arrest and search warrants on the sect's leaders, whom they suspected of explosives and firearms violations. Then, after a two-month standoff, nearly 80 members of the sect died in the fire that began after an assault on the building led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Subcommittees of the House Judiciary Committee and the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight, with the blessings of Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia, have planned hearings on the assaults that could last a week or longer. The hearings, which will included subpoenaed witnesses and sworn testimony, will focus on the Government's conduct in the raids.

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Mr. Rubin said his letter was sent to news organizations to prevent "misinformation about what happened at Waco" from being spread by "opponents of law enforcement."

Investigation of the raid by the Treasury Department, of which the firearms agency is a part, led to the replacement of some top-level managers at the agency two years ago. The inquiries, while essentially absolving senior Clinton Administration officials, said the firearms bureau had been hasty in deciding on an all-out raid in February 1993 and in abandoning plans to capture the sect's leader away from the compound.

In another effort to blunt the potential impact of the hearings, Representative Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of Brooklyn, said he would hold a "public forum" next week at which he would present public officials and private citizens whose lives have been threatened by members of paramilitary groups.

Mr. Schumer said that earlier Senate hearings on the groups had not fully focused on their anti-social conduct. Mr. Schumer and more than 50 other House Democrats who had sought formal hearings on the paramilitary groups were rebuffed by Mr. Gingrich. Instead, the Speaker backed the Judiciary and Government Reform Committees' plans for hearings on the Branch Davidian raids.

Mr. Schumer said: "These hearings are getting more staff time and more money than any since we started this session. It's pandering to a paranoid fringe in America that wants to believe that Waco was a conspiracy.

"What needs investigating at least as much and probably a lot more are some of these militias. The extent of their intimidation of citizens and government officials in some parts of America is very, very troubling."

Among those Mr. Schumer has invited to speak at his forum are a Montana judge who says her life was threatened after she presided over a traffic case involving the son of a member of a paramilitary group, and a member of a local Audubon Society chapter in Washington State who says he was confronted by a group member waving a hangman's noose.

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A version of this article appears in print on July 6, 1995, on Page B00008 of the National edition with the headline: Administration Tries to Blunt Hearing on Raid on Texas Sect. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe